B’nai B’rith Housing, a not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to produce nonsectarian housing, said Monday that it has begun construction on a 64-unit apartment complex in Sudbury that is aimed at “active” adults age 55 and older.

The complex is called the Coolidge at Sudbury, and building costs are projected to be $16.7, said Brighton-based B’nai B’rith Housing, which in May bought the land that the complex will be located on for $2 million. The land was purchased from the Mercuri family. The expectation is that the Coolidge will be ready for occupancy in mid 2014...more.

Construction has begun on The Coolidge, a new 64-unit housing complex in Sudbury that aims to serve active seniors and adults aged 55 and over, according to B'nai B'rith Housing.

“This is a huge milestone for us for a development that will allow more local seniors to remain in their community by choosing to live at The Coolidge,” B'nai B'rith Housing executive director Susan Gittelman said in a press release.

Though The Coolidge is owned by CCC Post Road Limited Partnership, it will be controlled by B’nai B’rith Housing, based in Brighton, which purchased the land for $2 million from the Mercuri family this May. BBH is a nonprofit developer that aims to create affordable housing in Greater Boston’s underserved suburban communities...more.

Staten Island Tech student Ashley Deng has earned a $5,000 scholarship, and the status of being a published author, as the top winner of this year's Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge sponsored by B'Nai B'rith International.

Her entry "We Are All Atoms"— which she wrote and illustrated — caught the attention of judges. Her win was announced on June 10 during an awards ceremony hosted by the New York Stock Exchange.

"It's great to see Diverse Minds still flourishing seven years into the program," said B'nai B'rith International President Allan J. Jacobs. "It's amazing how creative these kids are and what they can achieve when their minds are working toward a noble cause....more.

by Eduardo Kohn, director of Latin American affairs at B'nai B'rith International

On July 18, the victims of the AMIA bombing will be killed again.

Their families will feel the chilly winter and the cold reality of the chain of agreements made between Iran and Argentina that has erased the remote illusion of a true and honest effort to prosecute the perpetrators.

The July 18, 1994 terror attack on the the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building — the heart of the Argentinian Jewish community — killed 85 and wounded 300. No one has been brought to justice, though Iran’s ties to the attack are well known.

In a 2006 report, Argentinian prosecutor Alberto Nisman detailed how top Iranian leaders — including Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran’s president at the time, and Ahmad Vahidi, who later became minister of defense — ordered Hezbollah to kill Jews in Buenos Aires. Interpol has requested that Iran turn over the officials responsible for the worst terrorist attack ever in Latin America. No arrests have been made...more.

Until 2009, right-wing Portuguese politician Jose Ribeiro e Castro didn’t have much interest in the expulsion of his country’s Jewish community in the 16th century. That changed once Ribeiro e Castro opened a Facebook account.

Online, the 60-year-old lawmaker and journalist connected to several Sephardic Jews, descendants of a once robust Jewish community numbering in the hundreds of thousands, many of whom were forced into exile in 1536 during the Portuguese Inquisition. Eventually the encounters morphed into a commitment to rectify a historic injustice.

For Ribeiro e Castro, correcting the injustice meant spearheading a bill to naturalize the Jewish descendants of expelled Jews, a measure that unanimously passed the Portuguese parliament in April and went on the books last week, making Portugal the only country besides Israel with a Jewish law of return.

“The law is a commendable initiative,” said Nuno Wahnon Martins, the Lisbon-born director of European affairs for B’nai B’rith International. “It has economic considerations as well, which do not subtract from parliament’s worthy decision...more.

A few months ago I finished Pete Townshend’s autobiography, “Who I Am.” I can’t say I was surprised to read the following:

We shared our house with the Cass family, who lived upstairs and, like many of my parents’ closest friends, were Jewish. I remember noisy, joyous Passovers with a lot of Gefilte fish, chopped liver and the aroma of slow-roasting brisket (11).

I have often wondered why “Tommy” has such a grip on me. My best guess? I think it stems from my six summers at B’nai B’rith Perlman Camp in Starlight, Pennsylvania...more.

In Cuba for the first time on an educational mission a few months ago, businessman-philanthropist Steven Tisch told his guide he wanted to visit some of the Jewish sites in Havana’s small Jewish community.

Tisch ended up at Temple Beth Shalom, the de facto headquarters of Cuban Jewry, where he spent a few hours speaking with Adele Dworin, the community’s head. She told her visitor about Jewish Cuba’s history, culture and increasing viability in recent years...The Cuban government has allowed greater religious freedom in recent decades, and organizations like B’nai B’rith International and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee have an active presence there...more.